Wallboards are commonly used in the construction of buildings to form the interior walls and ceilings of the rooms therein. Wallboard manufacturers recommend leaving a small space between the edges of adjacent wallboards when they are installed onto the framing studs of the buildings. Leaving this recommended space between the wallboards is time-consuming and, furthermore, achieving a space of uniform width is difficult.
After the wallboards are installed onto the framing studs, spackling tape and spackling compound are used, in a well-known and conventional manner, to finish the joints where the edges of adjacent wallboards meet in order to create a flat, smooth surface on the interior walls and ceilings. The flat, smooth surface facilitates application of paint or wallpaper, resulting in an aesthetically appealing finish.
Generally, wallboards are manufactured today having beveled or tapered longitudinal edges and raw, untapered lateral edges, known as butt edges. The longitudinal edges are typically 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16 feet in length, while the lateral edges or butt edges are typically 4 or 4½ feet in length. Where adjacent wallboards are installed having their longitudinal edges properly aligned, then a flat, smooth surface is easily created by the aforementioned application of spackling tape and spackling compound. However, where adjacent wallboards meet at their raw, unshaped butt edges, thereby creating what is referred to as a butt joint, application of the spackling tape and spackling compound will not easily result in a flat, smooth surface. Instead, a ridge or curve results from the use of spackling tape and spackling compound to finish the joint formed by butt edges of adjacent wallboards, or even where the tapered edge of one wallboard is aligned with the butt edge of an adjacent wallboard.
To make the butt joint less noticeable and more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, it must be widened and feathered to an extreme extent, sometimes more than 5 feet in width. Notwithstanding such efforts, a curve remains on the wall or ceiling. For optimum aesthetics, especially when a butt joint is adjacent to a non-perpendicular wall or ceiling, the curve is problematic.
Various devices and methods have been developed to address the problem of finishing joints between raw wallboards edges, such as butt joints. For example, Utzman U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,280 discloses wallboards that are manufactured having pre-shaped beveled edges that will, when the wallboards are installed having the beveled edges adjacent to one another, result in the formation of a recessed joint that can be finished using spackling tape and spackling. This, however, does not aid in the finishing of wallboard joints formed by adjacent raw, untapered wallboard edges.
Utzman also discloses wallboards having covering sheets on the front and rear surfaces thereof and that extend and fold over onto the edges of the wallboards. When these wallboards are installed having their covered edges adjacent to one another, the resulting joint is clean and 1flat. Similarly, Dawdy, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,199 discloses wallboards having paper coverings on the front surfaces thereof that extend past the wallboard edges, such that when the wallboards are installed and a uniform space is left between the edges, the paper that extends past the edges of the wallboards is tucked into the joint formed therebetween. These methods both, however, require the use of wallboards having paper coverings that extend beyond the surfaces and onto the edges of the wallboards.
Santa Cruz et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,469 discloses a method of creating a recessed joint between wallboards having raw, untapered edges, whereby, prior to mounting the wallboards into the framing stud, longitudinal slots are cut into each raw edge, in between the papered surfaces thereof. Each wallboard is then mounted to the stud in the traditional manner, i.e., using typical wallboard fasteners, such as nails, to fasten the slotted edges to the stud, whereupon the edge is compressed, each slot is closed, and the resulting joint is recessed. Schneller U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,224 also discloses a method of creating a recessed joint between untapered wallboard edges that involves the cutting of a slot into the raw untapered edge of each wallboard prior to mounting the wallboards and then mounting the wallboards with conventional fasteners which compresses the edges, closing the slots and resulting in a recessed joint. These methods have the disadvantage that a cutting tool must be used, the cutting step produces removes a portion of the wallboard material from the edges, thereby producing waste material, and the wallboard edges must be altered prior to mounting the wallboards onto the stud.
Yount et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,311,717 5,487,250 disclose a method of creating a recessed joint between predecorated wallboards, which have a decorated paper covering on their front surfaces and untapered edges. In this method, the wallboards are mounted with their untapered edges adjacent to one another, the decorated paper covering is peeled back to expose the untapered edges and a groove is cut into the adjacent untapered edges, thereby tapering them. A preformed joint strip is then inserted into the resulting recessed joint to fill the groove and the decorated paper of each wallboard is then laid over and adhered to the joint strip. While this method allows the wallboard edges to be reshaped after the wallboards are mounted to the stud, this method requires the use predecorated wallboards as well as an additional part, i.e., a joint strip to fill the joint. In addition, this method requires the use of a cutting tool and results in the removal of a portion of the wallboard material, thereby producing waste.
In addition, there exist a number of devices having wheels that are used apply tape to wallboard joints (see, e.g., Mills et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,028), or to impress and shape tape and mastic into corners formed by adjacent wallboards, thereby finishing such joints and wallboards (see, e.g., Ames U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,145 and Lass U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,624). These devices, however, do not reshape the wallboard edges, but rather, are employed as part of the ultimate finishing operations which occur after the wallboards have been positioned and shaped as appropriate.
The object of the present invention is to provide a novel and economical device and method for the proper orientation of adjacent wallboards to leave a uniform space therebetween and for the creation of a tapered edge on the wallboard's lateral edge or butt edge after installation of the wallboards onto the framing studs.